A guitarist using software is not something you could have comfortably predicted, even a couple of years ago. As a rule the predominant guitar based creature likes to lump about big bits of gear, enjoys twiddling knobs and gets a kick from stamping on switches – and this they still do with abandon. While computers enabled the modelling of real amplifiers and created a new generation of guitar tone technology most manufacturers pumped the software back into hardware, completely underestimating the guitarist’s ability to evolve into a more virtual environment. IK Multimedia stood out from the crowd at a time when no one really considered the idea of a plug-in being something a guitarist would be interested in. Amplitube, IK’s original amp modelling and effects plug-in, was a resounding success.

Since 2004 Cockos have been offering Reaper as a viable alternative to the mainstream music making software such as Cubase or Sonar. Now in it's third incarnation can it really compete with the big names and provide a stable, professional recording environment for like $60? Yeah, pretty much.

FabFilter has just released "Timeless 2" a tape delay come modulation monster plug-in. It's the latest in a little flurry of releases and updates from the Dutch duo Floris Klinkert and Frederik Slijkerman. They haven't popped up on my radar since Fabfilter One a couple of years back, which is a half decent fat synth with a quite extraordinary quality of filter, so I thought it would be nice to have a look and see what they've been doing with themselves.

There's always a fear that when a software company gets bought out its key products will find themselves lost and unsupported in some windowless office somewhere. Thankfully, that's not so with Sibelius and Avid. Sibelius is and always has been the best score writing software available. It's style, ease of use and the way it sort of "flows" is unmatched but it's needed a good kick in the arse for a long time now and it looks like Avid have supplied that. Avid are the owners of Digidesign who make the Pro Tools recording software and have been long criticised for its lack of score editing facilities and so bolting Sibelius into the Pro Tools recording environment seemed like an obvious idea.

It's somehow comforting for a program to remain largely unchanged for hundreds of years. Band-In-A-Box (BIAB) has been doing its thing since 1988 and I don't think there's ever been anything else to match it. In a nutshell it's an automatic accompaniment generator - it's a bit like a software version of a home keyboard such as a Technics or Yamaha. In what it does it's extremely powerful and now includes audio tracks and samples to compliment the MIDI arrangements. You can pick a style, a tempo, a key and off it goes - enter in a few chords and you have a whole band, ready to go. So, finally, after all this time, the poor old Mac user who's frustrated with the shallowness of Garage Band can delve into the wonders of BIAB and get some real automatically generated satisfaction.

Windows XP is just like, soooo 2001, but regardless of Microsoft's efforts to move us to Vista, Windows XP remains the most popular choice for musicians. Probably not for too much longer as XP keeps getting discontinued (we really mean it this time) and Windows 7 is just around the corner meaning that you could soon upgrade without ever getting your hands dirty in Vista. So while Windows XP continues to exist it's fitting to pull together the best tips on getting it optimised for running audio.

Why does XP need to be optimised for audio?

Vista has not been warmly received by computer musicians. Largely, I believe, this is down to perception and driven by quite a bit of anti Microsoft scaremongering from self important technology gurus like me. They are not without merit though because it's true that in most cases Windows XP will out perform Windows Vista by a tiny bit, and that Vista brings very little to the table that XP can't already handle and so the price of the upgrade seems a bit steep when XP is already doing the job. However, much that's been said about Vista being rubbish for audio is unfounded and actually unhelpful as it's increasingly difficult to buy a computer with anything other than Vista on it these days.

Common computer music question - “Where do I plug in my guitar?” Turning your humble computer into a kick ass studio falls at the first hurdle if it doesn’t have something into which you can plug a jack cable. If you want to record live sound into your computer then you’ll need to consider getting hold of the right soundcard.

Most computers come with a soundcard of some sort. If your computer has speakers and makes bleeps and noises then you have a soundcard. The majority of soundcards are designed for games, multimedia and playing CD/DVD’s so not a lot of thought has gone into the idea of serious studio recording. Nethertheless it is a place to start and we’ll come onto the proper gear in a minute.

We've been waiting so long for Propellerheads to get around to putting audio recording into their hugely popular synth rack sequencer called Reason - it's been very quiet over at Prop HQ since Reason 4 came out 18 months ago, what can they be doing? I think we might have underestimated them. Rather than bolt something into Reason they've come up with a whole new recording environment which they've imaginatively called "Record". This is brilliant for two main reasons, firstly it's a stand alone bone fide bit of studio recording software with loads of good stuff in it (which we'll come onto in a minute) and second if you already have Reason then it will completely integrate into Record without any of that mucking about with Rewire.

Steinberg have flirted with the idea of producing hardware for their music production software a few times in the past, often rebranding existing hardware to give the impression of assured compatibility. When Yamaha acquired Steinberg back in 2004 we assumed that rebranded Yamaha hardware would start to appear – but actually that wasn't the case. Instead they took their time to create something special, something that would bring the hardware and software closer together in more than appearance – “Advanced Integration”. Here's what Steinberg have to say about it: